To Start a Fire: vol 2
by lollipop-mania
Summary: Temari might not have counted cards, but she could always tell which ones he held. ...A collection of various one-shots and anecdotes. Themes and ratings vary. ShikaTema.
1. on Sex

a/n: YAY VOLUME TWO! I'm so excited to be back. I recently just published something else for Shikatema but it was rated T and I legit think there is divide in the fandom between ratings. like i feel as though it has been a long time since i was in the shikatema M rating fandom, though they're all the same. idk. what i mean is i published something last week but it is only now that i feel like i am coming back to my ff home! so i have a lot of ideas for this volume and can't wait to write them all out and to interact with all of you guys again. I'VE MISSED YOU!

I planned on doing this volume on regina spektor songs (though tbh i could continue the trend of alexz johnson forever) but i couldn't find an apt title for this so "on sex" has nothing to do with r spektor. anyway. please write me and tell me how all of you are and review and take care of me and everything! seriously, this is so short and meaningless, but i am so excited to be back with a new story! also, the summary will change when i get a new line a like (this one is adapted from chapter 4 in last vol.)

enjoy the lighthearted chapter. they're rare for me. take what you can get.

* * *

**On Sex**

* * *

"The sex isn't, well..."

He heard it as he was watching the clouds. It was just idle conversation, and Shikamaru couldn't quite explain why he became so invested.

Sure, he'd always had a sort of far off crush on Temari. He hated that phrasing, sure. _Crushing _wasn't exactly something that Shikamaru _did. _If he liked someone, he pursued it. In all, he was a pretty apathetic guy when it came to love and romance, and more often than not, he was the one being pursued.

But it wasn't like he didn't know _how _to pursue. He'd done it once or twice. But with Temari, he'd never really tried. They'd been closer when they were younger but he had never even been old enough to try for her. And when he had, she'd been with someone else.

He wasn't in love with her, and honestly, there were no late nights or horrific losses in her dating someone else. Shikamaru was fine.

So it was a kind of crush. Had they the opportunity, they'd probably be good for one another. But they didn't. And he didn't _mind_. So it was just a _far off_, reluctant, crush.

Which didn't explain why he stopped opened his chakra lines to better hide his position and allow to him eavesdrop on a girl he totally really didn't even like all that much.

He didn't _care _about Temari's sex life. He _sure as hell _didn't care to listen to Ino speak about hers. Ino told him enough even when he tried to ignore her. But here Ino and Temari were, walking down the street below the roof Shikamaru had, until recently, been sleeping on.

He'd woken from his nap an hour or so before, and though he was hungry, he had no motivation to leave the roof. So he sat, eyes idly on the sky and listening to the occasional tidbit of conversation from the pedestrians below.

Shikamaru's ears had perked up when he recognized Ino's voice with, "…but how is the sex?"

And his whole torso completely sat up when the voice that followed was Temari's.

"What does that mean?" Ino asked, "specifically."

They were walking out of ear shot and so Shikamaru moved forward on the rooftops.

"It isn't that he's _bad_," Temari clarified. When he looked down, he could see them walking right below him, strolling along with easy steps. "I mean, he tries hard, and I give him some credit for that."

"Do you come?"

There was a long pause and Shikamaru found himself leaning so far sideways that he risked falling off the roof, scared Temari had whispered the answer or something.

"I did. Once."

"Only once?"

Temari must have nodded or given some other form of non-verbal sign of affirmation because Ino continued.

"Does he not know?"

Shikamaru didn't really understand how he could not. Shikamaru was, after all, a man whom had engaged in sexual intercourse with more than one person. And sure, with a woman it was harder to tell when they came—as in there was no _obvious _sign—but not impossible. Shikamaru found himself rather capable of interpreting the signals, or at least he thought.

And he could usually _feel _it when someone came.

So how could Temari's boyfriend not realize that she never reached orgasm?

"I usually don't even fake it." Temari continued. "But he really tries. Every time it starts to get good, he stops and asks if I'm okay. I used to wonder if he was worried that he was like, actually hurting me or something, but it turns out he was just asking whether I was finished or not."

Shikamaru grunted, calming his pace down. He wanted to say that Temari's boyfriend was an idiot. But Shikamaru himself had, on more than one occasion, asked his partner if he or she were good for him to come. So he couldn't _really _judge, could he?

Then again though, Shikamaru was sure that if Temari were to choose another partner—say _him_, for instance—he would make her come. To be honest, he didn't really doubt it. He and Temari would have great sex, it was speculation, but he took it as fact.

He really shouldn't be thinking along these lines, because now his chest was burning, but that could always be attributed to the humid weather.

"Oh my god," Ino drawled, "I can't even imagine. Is sex really not that important to you? I would have dumped him asap if he couldn't pull off anything more than a few thrusts."

"He makes weird faces too."

There was a laugh from Ino and he can almost picture Temari rolling her eyes. "Well that's not unusual. You should have seen Genma."

Shikamaru shuddered and, for the first time, seriously considered giving the two girls their privacy. He didn't think prying into Temari's personal life was worth the extra baggage of Ino's.

"No," Temari said after a moment, "sex is important to me," she clarified. "And honestly, I don't even like him all that much. We started with just fooling around, and I used to think that even mediocre sex was better than no sex, but now I'm not so sure."

"There must be other prospects? It has never been hard for you to attract someone. And there must be some _decent _population of men that are good in bed."

"You've slept with the majority of reasonable eligible men in Konoha. You've never had a horrible partner?"

The two of them stopped walking and Shikamaru leaned over to see what was currently occupying them. Both were hidden beneath an awning, but after a few seconds, continued into the open. Their pace continued and Shikamaru went back to following.

Ino gave a non-committal grunt. "I've had not _great _ones, but they all have been decent. And the ones I stay with have all been great."

Temari laughed.

"I think you should dump him," Ino said. "Start sleeping with someone else."

"There _is _no one else right now." Shikamaru bit his tongue. "In Suna, sure. But I'm stationed here for eight more months and these days all the men around my age seem to be taken."

"Hm, well, I guess you're right. Even Choji has a girlfriend... there is Sai?"

Temari laughed loudly. "I'd rather do it myself than fuck _Sai_."

Shikamaru could feel the blood painting his cheeks and neck at the image of Temari touching herself. It wasn't something he'd really thought about before. He wasn't a lewd person normally. Not prudish in any sense, very straightforward usually, but never so immensely drawn to any perversion.

Suddenly the thought of Temari masturbating was rivaling the thought of him fucking her. Of course, _he _was available, and Shikamaru could snap Ino's neck right now, but that was beside the point. He was caught fifty-fifty between wanting Ino to acknowledge that Shikamaru was a perfectly eligible bachelor whom got on with Temari and had maintained a healthy (or at least, _climactic_) sex life, and wanting Temari to break up with this guy and then just do the deed _herself. _

Both ideas turned him on immensely and he honestly couldn't tell which was better.

Rationally, he knew it was better to fuck her. But that also could result in something _brilliant _or could ruin a perfectly comfortable friendship. And her touching herself didn't really ruin anything did it? Maybe a perfectly good pair of pants, but that did little harm.

"Would you rather do it yourself than have your boyfriend do it?"

Temari gave another non-verbal answer and Shikamaru burned this time with the question left in the air on his end.

"Does he go down on you?"

"He used to. He always wants to, but at this point, I'd rather just get the sex over with."

Shikamaru's sigh of exasperation at the current situation was too loud, and both Temari and Ino stopped talking for a second, but quickly carried on.

"Well you know, Kiba _loves _oral sex. He has this one technique where he kind of rolls..."

That was enough for Shikamaru.

There was only so much he take from Ino. And as she continued to speak of the length of Kiba's tongue, Shikamaru became painfully aware that imagining sex with Temari was _not _worth imagining sex with Kiba and Ino. Without any more hesitation, Shikamaru turned around and leapt from rooftop to rooftop until he was well out of range of their voices.

Regardless of their new distance though, Shikamaru's chest—and every now and then, groin—continued to burn well into the next week.

* * *

It was a surprise though when Temari showed up at his door thirteen days later.

"What are you doing here?" He'd asked.

She leaned into the doorframe, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Took you long enough."

"What are you talking about?"

Temari shrugged. "I was tired of waiting."

He frowned.

"Well," she said, stepping closer and forcing him to sidestep so she could enter. She walked into his apartment and glanced around before turning to face him, "do you want to fuck me or what?"

Shikamaru gaped. "Wh— what?" And then, after it hit him: "how long did you know?"

"Long enough."

Shikamaru wondered how apparent he'd been. He thought he'd covered his tracks well... Slowly, his ears turned pink. It was a rare thing for him to feel embarrassed, and truthfully, he hadn't ever really felt as such since childhood. But Temari brought certain things out in him.

"Ino thinks it's hilarious. She's told practically everyone."

He skansed his eyes down and muttered, "bitch."

"So," Temari asked after a second, "what are you going to do?"

Shikamaru didn't have to think twice.

* * *

well. next up— assassins au. yeah baby.

idk how this turned out. i didn't know how to end it. anyway.

**and remember to read my new ShikaTema story **"station _x_". **i put more effort into it than any story yet!**

PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. on Suna

a/n: okay well I actually have a piece I'm like almost done with that I was going to publish this week but I suddenly wrote this in the last half hour and even though it's more drabble than anything I feel the need to publish it. no names but obv shikatema. Also giving up the r spektor fantasy and sticking to "on _".

* * *

**on Suna **(on _Home_)

* * *

He hates Suna.

He hates it all.

He hates the stupid slangs and accent and clothing and their music and television and the newspapers she occasionally receives. He hates the smiles and the way it calls her name.

_He hates it all. _

He hates everything about it.

But mostly he hates how Suna runs in her veins.

He knows he shouldn't. He should love everything about her, should worship the blood that crawls through her body.

But Suna brings her smiles that he can't.

He can tell sometimes, when they sit on the grass and she looks up the sky and he knows the sun reflecting and warming her skin is the right sun in the wrong place at the wrong time and she wishes it were the same sun somewhere else.

She doesn't always wish she were somewhere else. He knows that too. She loves how snow stays on the ground in Konoha. She loves their leaves and the way the wind whispers instead of screams. She loves him.

He loves her.

But the red string doesn't wrap around his pinky but ties her heart to the desert instead, because he can always take her out of Suna but somehow the Suna can never leave her. And that is what he hates the most:

how Suna calls her back.

Because it always calls her back and it always will. And some nights he can feel the breath of Am I Not Enough To Make You Stay crawl out of his bones but instead he smiles and brushes his fingers against her knee because he is scared (he knows) the resolution might be worse than the problem. He holds his breath and waits for her to never come back and every time he lets her go he is ashamed to say that he is a little surprised when she returns. He was never her keeper and he knows he brings light but Suna brings Life and one day she is going to make The Choice.

And he knows what her answer is.

So he hates Suna.

Though he loves _her _accent and mannerisms and the music _she _listens to and he _does _Love the blood in her veins and the gold seeped into her skin but he Hates Suna.

_Suna always calls her back_.

And when she finally answers its call he knows he won't change his number but it doesn't really matter if they live in two different places and in two different sunsets.

But he always wants to grab her heart and pull it into him and whisper than he'll always love her even though she prefers to breathe different air than to share with him.

* * *

will definitely publish another, longer, one soon. **review!**

(go review station X and the re-write of Mistake too!)

good luck to everyone starting school this week!

xxxxoxo

p.s. carolnuts is going to kill me


	3. on Gambling

a/n: i feel like this took a while. i'm in the middle of two other ones but keep getting new ideas and now school has started and yeah. apologies. also, PLEASE give recommendations! i love being prompted.

also this is an alternate version of the TSAF V1 story: Gamble (chapter 5). this is just the same theme with a different take, this time temari-focused. also if you don't think i'm getting some parent trap in here, you are fucking wrong.

* * *

**on Gambling **

* * *

Temari didn't count cards.

_Temari Didn't Count Cards. _

She thought that point was worth reiterating, especially when she was so blandly accused of it as often as she was. It wasn't unjustified to keep careful watch on the deck as his fingers gripped and arched it. She always knew how to play it safe.

He had definitely known that beforehand, so when he asked in that very sly manner with one eyebrow raised and drawl three quarters tease and one quarter serious, she didn't feel the need to answer.

After all, Shikamaru had always been one to purposefully bait her.

He always liked teasing, in the worst way.

He came off reluctant and straightforward and downright lazy, but _damn _did Shikamaru like to tease his partners.

Goading and taunting, pulling and pushing—she'd never been non privy to his sadism.

It wasn't that he _was _a tease. He just riled people. Irritated the people he managed to get in bed with him, maybe because it made it more interesting or maybe because it was always all just a game to him.

Cocky, arrogant, egotistical—

"Temari," he commented, extending his hand to the chair across the table from him, "will you?"

She took a deep inhale and pulled out the wooden chair and sat down.

Around them the crowd couldn't be called lifeless, and she could already see money exchanged out of the corner of her eye. They Seem To Know Each Other, she heard somewhere behind her.

They did. Not well—not _really—_but they'd certainly Met.

(if that was what the kids called it these days)

"It's good to see you." Shikamaru said, shuffling. It was nicer than the first thing he'd said when she'd first pushed through the crowd, her hands on her hips and his eyes crawling over hers because he knew it would irritate her that he wasn't paying more attention to her legs: You Don't Count Cards, Do You?.

"Is it?"

Shikamaru glanced up from his hands, staring at her for a brief moment. His eyes were as dark and foreboding as ever. Then he looked back down and any moment they'd had was broken. "Yes," he answered simply.

It'd been around two years or so, and she took the words in kind.

There was silence as he finished shuffling and began to deal.

"Don't I get to cut the deck?"

"Do you not trust me?"

Temari eyed him and then glanced over at the Ikuyo, who just smiled from the fringe of the crowd. "Not at all," she answered when she turned back.

Shikamaru gave another long stare, as though he were surprised by her response, before he pushed the deck forward and she cut it in half. He took the cards back.

She thought it'd be obvious. When someone dumps you, are you supposed to keep your faith in them?

"Ante?"

"I heard you normally bet alcohol."

"So you've heard of me?"

Temari smirked and then let her eyes wander over his face. "You've made quite a name for yourself."

"All the way overseas?"

"All the way around the neighborhood."

Shikamaru's head shot up. "You're back in Nagoya?"

Temari intensified her smirk and swept her hands over the turned down cards in front of her.

There was a light pause before Shikamaru put down the incomplete deck and reached for his own cards. "Drinks it is then," he muttered, lightly sinking teeth into his lower lip.

Without speaking they raised their cards. Temari was overly familiar with the slick pasted papers of playing cards beneath the pads of her finger. "Stop staring at me," she said instinctually, and though she didn't look up to see if Shikamaru even had been staring at her, someone in the crowd snickered.

"Can I ask..." he began, "did you come here to play me?"

"Why else would I be here?"

Shikamaru put down his cards and leaned back in his chair. "That was how we met."

"Stop being so sentimental," she shot back easily, not looking at him.

"Did you two used to date?" Some man asked from the crowd.

"Was it that obvious?" Shikamaru responded, looking nowhere but at her. Eventually she put her cards down. She'd thought it'd been apparent since he'd let her cut the queue of people waiting to play him with one look, but it was only now that the surrounding people started nodding their heads and moving their eyes from her thighs to the cards in front of her. "Are you going to fold?" Shikamaru continued when the silence between them and the whispers of the crowd had gone on too long.

She shook her head. "I brought money."

"That's boring," Shikamaru muttered, leaning forward and regaining some of the cool he'd lost after finding out she was permanently back in the city, voice turning back into syrup and eyes mischievous. "Let's bet on something a little more interesting."

He'd said the same thing three years ago when they'd met in his college dormitory. She had come to play him that time too, only she hadn't realized this master poker-player everyone on campus was talking about was actually just some twenty-year old kid with outrageously good grades and too much confidence. She had beat him that night, but she'd more than made it up to him before dawn.

"What are you proposing?"

Shikamaru smirked. "What did you make me do before?"

"Break into the pool and jump in naked." She said easily.

He raised his brows. "Is it that vivid for you to remember?"

"There wasn't _much_ too remember."

Shikamaru chuckled at her quick denial, as if he were to paint in red that she most certainly remembered All Too Well.

"I just felt bad that everyone stole your clothes."

"Yes... you did." Her stomach tightened—of course they were both well aware that the memory was far too present—and she picked up her cards again. "Same proposition?"

"What?" She halted, "back at the university? You want to go skinny dipping _there_?"

"Who said I would be the one to go skinny dipping?"

"Cards are about luck, Shikamaru. We're both in equal amounts of it." He shrugged, as if to say his superior intelligence would win him the match. "Fine," Temari threw out, "I'll accept."

This time, Temari definitely saw bills trading hands.

"Are you here alone?"

"I brought someone."

Shikamaru glanced up from laying out the next card from the deck. "Oh?"

She smiled and inclined her head, letting his eyes follow the line. Temari wondered if he'd deny obvious release of tension in his body when he saw who her guest was.

"Hello, Ikuyo," Shikamaru said diplomatically, raising a hand.

There was a pause and then Ikuyo raised her own hand, "_Hello_, Shikamaru."

Getting back to the game, Temari felt herself becoming closer to her cards, finalizing her hand and feeling content. It wasn't anything superfluous, but she would almost definitely win.

"You're not going to fold this round either?" Shikamaru asked after a few minutes.

"Any bets?" She responded with.

"It's your turn."

"Rescind your title. If I win, you have to stop playing poker here. Let your name die out and go back to your real job."

"And if I win?"

She thought about it. "I'm not sure, what do you want?"

"You," he answered without hesitation.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll raise the stakes." There was an exaggerated pause and then he aligned their eyes and cocked his head. "You. I want you. I win, I'm the one that gets to take you home."

Temari laughed. "How many men are staring at me right now?"

"At least a dozen." He answered without looking.

"And are they more handsome, richer, kind? Any more eligible than you in any way?"

"Some, almost certainly."

"Then why should I go home with you instead?"

Shikamaru licked his lip, "because," he said, simply and plainly with no hidden meanings or teasing in his voice, "we were in love once."

Temari stopped short and someone in the crowd burst into applause.

When she took a breath, Shikamaru had already moved on, as though he'd said nothing important.

"Are you ready?"

Luckily, she didn't need to respond when she was sure she would be going home alone tonight with the hand she was holding. And she didn't need to be matter of fact when there Definitely was no burning in her gut making trails between her legs and no there most assuredly wasn't.

Though she wouldn't deny that she still thought about him.

"One more condition. Tell me why we broke up. Why did you dump me?"

Shikamaru looked hurt for a second before looking vaguely surprised. "I didn't dump you," he tried, "I let you go."

The mood, which had never really lightened up in the first place, became heavier. This time, no one in the audience applauded.

"There is always someone that loves more," he said, "that was me."

She could hear her blood pounding in her ears. "Bull. Shit."

"You were going away for grad school. You were an adult and I was just grounding you."

"That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard."

"I loved you," he said simply.

"You just wanted to fuck me."

He shrugged, lighter, "well, that too."

Angry at his very skewed confession, she slammed her cards face up on the table. "I won."

Shikamaru took one long look at her hand and then slowly folded his own. There was a beat and then her section of the crowd cheered. "The school pool?" He asked begrudgingly.

"It's not that far."

"Is tomorrow okay?"

"It's not even midnight!"

Leaning forward, Shikamaru reached out his hand and put it on hers. "What happened last time you felt bad for me?" He asked in that same teasing voice and she wondered how he could so quickly gain the upper hand.

Knowing perfectly well what had happened when he'd lost his clothes all those years ago, she rolled her eyes. "And?"

"And don't you feel _bad _for me now, losing to someone in my own territory?"

Temari looked at him and then pulled her hand away. "Tomorrow night. At the pool." It wasn't what he was aiming for and he narrowed his gaze at her. She only shrugged.

"Don't steal my clothes." He tried.

She stood up and pushed in her chair, "I can't make any promises."

* * *

idk how this'll read. different than the last one at least. and featuring the return of Ikuyo!

**REVIEW!**


	4. on Promises (647)

a/n: written under time constraint. and in response to people completely overreacting on tumblr. re-post because fuck you ff. idc if i'm getting my gmail updates.

* * *

**on Promises **(647)

* * *

_You promised _is the first thing he hears when he wakes up.

He doesn't need to open his eyes—which is good, because he doesn't think he can—to know that Temari is the one accusing him.

"Some compassion would be nice," he responds. His voice is dry and chap and the words come out in heaved breaths between long silences. But he tries to laugh anyway and smile because she is here. And he is alive.

"Shikamaru…" she warns.

"Either way, I didn't break it."

"Are you really going to go into fucking technicalities _now?_"

He opens his mouth to retort but then quickly shuts it and takes a pitiful time to open his eyes instead. She has crudely-performed stitches across her cheek and he figures she must haven't found a med nin yet—though considering he is in one of the primitive infirmary tents set up right off the front lines, he supposes she just hasn't stopped long enough to find one of the dozens of medics.

"You're right," he says after an extended breath, "I'm sorry."

"You fucking better be."

"Temari…"

"How am I supposed to be out there when you're doing stupid shit and trying to die?"

It isn't a real question, because they both know the answer: he dies, she fights. Death means nothing in war

(_death is beautiful in war_)

and no matter how many promises he makes and how much she hurts she can't stop. And if the situation were reversed, neither would he.

But it is nice to think that he had an option and it was his fault he almost died and she would be unable to go forward without him. But the idea is a luxury and shouldn't be confused with reality.

"Bastard." She mutters, eyes skansing to the window.

"How long has it been?" He asks instead.

"A little over a day, I guess. I just got word."

"How is it looking?"

She shrugs and glances back at him. "Better than you."

His lungs hurt and he can't feel most of his limbs, but he is well versed in medication, or at least enough to recognize he isn't suffering from paralysis. But he is sure he looks like shit.

"Temari," he tries after another time has passed, "do you want me to say it again?"

"Excuse me?"

"Will it make you feel better?"

"I'm not some half-witted school girl, Shikamaru."

"I didn't say that."

"I don't _need_ you to tell me you'll be okay."

The look on her face was almost comical in how little it appeared. She 's hard as stone, he remembers, but it is difficult to keep that image with fluctuating tendencies. When she is asking for something when saying the opposite (which, he'd admit, happened more recently).

"I know," he says after a few seconds, "I want to say it."

She rolls her eyes and he isn't surprised (a little happy, even) to see the beginnings of tears refusing to break past lashes.

"I promise," he begins, for the second time in six months, "I won't die now. I won't die yet. I'll see this through, at least until I manage to wrangle a ring onto your finger and a few children inside you."

Temari snorts indignantly and waves her hand as though passing off his words, but after a second, without even looking at him again, she turns on her heel and walks right out of the tent. It is only when she is gone and a flap of burlap is between them that he hears her speak.

_You'd better_.

Shikamaru doesn't know if it is the meds or what, but he sleeps deeper than night than he has in a little while.

* * *

so since this is so short, but i am starting to experiment with prompts vs. time constraints, i think i'm going to publish on my lj and ao3 more. if anyone is interested find me there. i'm just thinking that i want to write more but i will probably save my ff for longer chapters and not drabbles.

also, i'm now the admin of a shikatema blog (just look at my tumblr because links take to long to write out here) so follow that too!

thanks everybody.

**REVIEW**

_p.s. shikamaru is not dead_


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